The Minnesota Timberwolves had their eyes on LaMelo Ball for a while before making a trade with the Charlotte Hornets last June. But when it comes to the timeline of the deal, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly suggested that it didn’t take long to make him go with his gut.
While he admitted that “90 percent of the calls turned into nothing,” and the Hornets insisted on Naz Reid being included as part of the trade, Connelly said the deal didn’t really come together after the first night of the NBA draft before the two sides “shook hands” the next morning.
Connelly’s aggressiveness helped Ball become a Timberwolf, but it’s also something that could help Minnesota moving forward when other big trades present themselves in the future.
“Our industry…has become so risk-averse. They’re so concerned about real-time analysis from guys like Jon,” Connelly joked during an appearance on The John Krawczynski Show. “It’s like…either you’re trying to win, you’re chasing that. Occasionally, you can rebuild if…[it’s the] proper year and you have a [Victor} Wembanyama or transcendent superstar. But I think the frustrating thing about our league right now is I think too many teams are trying to survive and be in between.
“...I think until we win the championship, you just got to keep shuffling cards and I don’t think we can be fear driven. I mean, one of the few upticks of having a team that doesn’t have the proudest history is you should be unafraid to swing. And if it doesn’t work, then it’s my job and then I’ll get fired and that’s fine. But I don’t ever want to be in a position where we’re reluctant to take swings.”
Tim Connelly isn’t afraid to take a big swing after the LaMelo Ball trade
Looking at Connelly’s history, the Ball trade and how long it took to complete the deal shouldn’t have been surprising.
Connelly began his tenure by diving into the deep end by acquiring Rudy Gobert for four unprotected first-round picks, a draft swap and a package of five players in July 2022. He made another bold trade, sending D’Angelo Russell to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that included Mike Conley and Nickiel Alexander-Walker ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.
The Wolves also traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick from the Detroit Pistons that turned into Joan Beringer ahead of the 2024-25 season. That deal, along with a failed draft-night trade for Rob Dillingham, came under fire as Towns led the Knicks to a championship last season. Regardless, it didn’t stop Connelly from continuing to find creative ways to make the team better and land Ball in a blockbuster trade.
“There’s nothing more frustrating than [when] I get on a call with a different team [and they say] ‘We have four untouchable guys,’ [and I think] ‘Damn, you guys won 37 games last year,’” Connelly said. “...So I think there is, in my opinion, and look, I haven’t won anything, so it’s unfair to me to judge others, but there’s too much risk aversion. There’s too much fear of how it’s judged in real time.”
Tim Connelly’s aggressiveness is a big advantage for the Timberwolves
Having a lead executive not afraid to take risks is something the Wolves can lean on in the future. It doesn’t mean that Connelly is going to hit on every move. But the punishments for being wrong may be overblown in the eyes of fans.
The Dillingham miss corrected itself when he was packaged with several draft picks to acquire Ayo Dosunmu from the Chicago Bulls last season. The Towns trade also has a chance to lean in the Wolves’ favor if Beringer turns into a key member of the Wolves rotation next season and develops into a starter down the road.
Even dealing with Reid has some risk and reward. The Wolves could have talked themselves out of the deal since they already traded Randle to the Brooklyn Nets. But dealing Reid and Randle has left a big hole at power forward that the Wolves have not yet filled, and a different style of play with training camp roughly one month away.
For a team that made back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances and a run to the second round of the playoffs last year, those moves aren’t easy to make. And look no further than the Denver Nuggets, who lost to a Timberwolves team that was without DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards for half the series and are still running it back to the point they are currently in the second salary apron.
On the flip side, the Boston Celtics, who also won an NBA title a few years ago, realized it couldn’t continue with the current core and traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers. That move may have accidentally lured LeBron James to the Eastern Conference, but it shows that even good teams have to take a swing once in a while.
Connelly is not afraid to take those chances, and Ball is the latest chance for that philosophy to earn a huge payout next season.
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